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DR. MACLEAN'S 



INAUGURATION AND ADDRESS. 



THE INAUGUKATION 



OF THE 



KEY. JOHN MACLEAN, D. D., 



TENTH PRESIDENT 



OF THE 



COLLEGE OE NEW JERSEY, 



^^ 



^ 1 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 1854. 



Jprinccton, 31. I., 

PRINTED BY JOHN T. ROBINSON. 

1854. 



^ 






40071 






INAUGURATION. 



The inauguration of the Eev. Dr, Maclean, as 
President of the College of New Jersey, occurred on 
the afternoon of Wednesday, the 28th of June, 1854, 
the day of the Annual Commencement. The cere- 
monies on this occasion took place, in the presence 
of the Trustees and Faculty, and of a large assembly 
of the graduates and other friends of the College. 
Rev. Dr. John McDowell, senior Trustee of the Col- 
lege, began the exercises with the following re- 
marks : 

" We are convened to inaugurate a Presdent of this 
venerable and important College. The Trustees have 
made it my duty to introduce the services, on this 
occasion, with a brief narrative of the events which 
have issued in the interesting exercises, in which we 
are now to be engaged. After the Commencement, 
a year since, was finished, and the Board of Trustees 
had returned to their place of meeting, in the College 
Library, the Rev. Dr. James Carnahan, unexpected- 
ly, presented to the Trustees, a written communica- 
tion, resigning his office of President of the College ; 
and giving as his reasons, his advanced age, and in- 
creasing infirmities. The session of the Trustees 
was then about closing, and they had not time to 



deliberate on the choice of a successor. They felt 
reluctantly constrained to accept the resignation ; 
which they did, passing resolutions highly approving 
of the administratioi> of Dr. Carnahan ; and at the 
same time requested him to continue to hold the 
office, and perform its duties, until a successor was 
chosen. To this request Dr. Carnahan kindly con- 
sented. 

'^ At the stated semi-annual meeting of the Board 
in December last, they proceeded to the election of 
a President, when the Rev. Dr. John Maclean, who 
had, almost from the time of his graduation, been a 
valuable officer of the Institution, in several depart- 
ments of instruction, and for many years its Vice 
President, was chosen. Dr. Carnahan was then re- 
quested to continue to hold the office of President, 
and perform its duties, until the close of the com- 
mencement, which has taken place this day. To 
this he consented. 

" Dr. Carnahan has occupied the presidential chair 
of this College, longer than any of his distinguished 
predecessors, from the foundation of the College. 
He has now been President thirty-one years, and his 
administration has not only been the longest, but 
also very successful. The College has grown, and 
prospered under it. The number of students, when 
he commenced his administration, was about one 
hundred and twerity. The whole number for the 
year now closing is two hundred and fifty-six. At 



the meeting of the Trustees in December last, a 
committee was appointed to make arrangements for 
the inauguration of Dr. Maclean. Agreeably to the 
report of that committee, approved by the Board, 
we are now met for this purpose. The usual oaths 
required to be taken by the President, will now be 
administered by the Honourable Henry W, Green, 
Chief Justice of the State of New Jersey." 

The following oaths, required by the charter were 
subscribed by the President elect : a.nd then admin- 
istered to him by the Chief Justice. 

1. " I do swear, that I will support the Constitution of the United States : 
80 help me Gtod/' 

2. " I do sincerely profess and swear, that I do and will bear true 
faith and allegiance to the government established in this State, under 
the authority of the people : so help me God." 

3. " I do solemnly promise and swear, that I will faithfully, impar- 
tially and justly, perform all the duties of the President of the College 
of New Jersey, according to the best of my abilities and understanding : 
so help me God." 

A true copy, E. F. Cooley, Cla-Jc. 

The oaths having been taken, the Chief Justice 
handed to Dr. Maclean the keys of the College ; and 
thus addressed him : 

" In the name and by the authority of the Board of 
Trustees, I deliver to you the keys of the College of 
New Jersey, hereby declaring that you are duly in- 
vested with all the powers, privileges and preroga- 
tives, and charged with all the duties of the office of 
President of that institution. 



6 

" We commit Nassau Hall, its interests and its rep- 
utation to your guardian care, with the earnest in- 
junction, and in the confident hope, that those pow- 
ers will be exercised and those duties performed by 
you in such manner, as shall most eminently conduce 
to the diffusion of knowledge, the promotion of virtue, 
the honour of our country and the glory of God." 

Dr. Maclean replied : — Having just given the most 
solemn pledge which it is in my power to give; that 
I will faithfully discharge the duties of my office : I 
shall only thank you, for the very kind terms, in 
which you have been pleased to announce the confi- 
dence reposed in me, by yourself and the other Trus- 
tees of the College. 



As he left the chair of the President, the Rev. Dr. 
Carnahan, thus addressed his successor : 

Mr. President : — 

When the interests of an im- 
portant public institution are concerned, private con- 
siderations and personal feelings ought to be laid 
aside. For this reason I do not risa to congratulate 
you, as perhaps some may think I ought, orf being 
placed in a station which your long, faithful and effi- 
cient services have merited. My object is rather to 
express my wishes for the prosperity of the College 
and the success of your administration. Sir, the in- 
terests of a sacred institution, which originated in 



the piety and patriotism of great and good men 
long since gone to their rest and reward, are now in 
a great measure placed in your hands. Your own 
experience and observation have taught you, that to 
train the minds and to form the intellectual and 
moral habits of youth, who are to be the future min- 
isters of the Gospel, the Physicians, the Legislators, 
the Judges, the Executive Officeis of our State and 
national governments, is no small and insignificant 
undertaking. When I call to mind how much the 
happiness or misery of parents and friends, how 
much the success or failure of the free institutions 
of our country, how much, the purity or corruption 
of our holy religion, in a word how much the tem- 
poral and eternal well-being of thousands yet un- 
born depends on the bias given to the minds of 
young men during their training in College ; I am 
constrained to believe that your office is one of im- 
mense responsibility — an office which no man who 
looks to his own peace and comfort only, ought to 
covet. Its duties are numerous and difficult — its 
cares and anxieties unceasing. And permit me to 
say that in your case, the responsibility is increased 
by the consideration, that this College has existed 
more than one hundred years — that it has maintain- 
ed a high and honourable place among similar insti- 
tutions in our land — that the sons of Nassau Hall 
in public and in private life, have not been inferior 
to those of any other College in our country. In 



8 

view of these facts, the thought that this time hon- 
oured and I may say, God favoured institution may 
now possibly fail, is painful and oppressive. But it 
cannot, must not fail. Founded in faith, with a view 
to promote the glory of God and the best interests of 
men, God has, in a remarkable manner, sustained and 
prospered this College in circumstances the most 
trying. And our prayer and hope is that he will 
continue his favour. And if in these feeble hands 
supported by yourself and other able and honoured 
coadjutors, the usual previous number of students 
in the College, has been more than doubled, and the 
graduates of the last thirty-one years, have equalled 
in number, those who have received the first degree 
in the Arts, under all my predecessors from the ori- 
gin of the College to the time I came into office, have 
we not cause to hope and believe that the College of 
New Jersey shall live and be a blessing to our coun- 
try and to the Church of God for ages yet to come ? 
Be assured sir, you have my hearty wishes and my 
most fervent prayers for the prosperity of the College, 
and for the success of your administration. 

To this address Dr. Maclean said in reply : 
That I had your best wishes ; and that I should 
have your fervent prayers for my successful admin- 
istration of the affairs of the College, I was well 
aware. For this public expression of your feelings I 
thank you most sincerely. 



DR. MACLEAN'S 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



Honoured Guardians and other friends of the 
College of New Jersey. 

For more than thirty years, have I been associa- 
ted with the venerable man, who this day retires 
from the Presidency of our College. You can there- 
fore readily conceive, that it must be truly gratifying 
to me to know, and to have others know, that my 
election as his successor has his hearty approval. 
The assurance that this is so encourages me to hope, 
that to some extent at least, I shall be able to meet 
the reasonable demands of the friends of the College ; 
and that I shall not sully the fair fame^ that has 
hitherto pertained to the office of its President. For 
more I dare not hope ; nor can I even promise as 
much as this : for this itself is no easy task. Of my 
predecessors in office this is not the occasion for me 
to speak particularly. They were all men of note, 

and they all did good service to the cause of piety 

2 



12 

and learning : but if sincere piety, sound learning, 
genuine modesty, freedom from personal ambition, 
devotion to the interests of the College, faithfulness 
and success in conducting its affairs for a long series 
of years, can entitle its President to the lasting grati- 
tude of all interested in its welfare ; then will the 
name of James Cam ah an ever be held in veneration 
by all the true sons and the true friends of our be- 
loved College. Happy may I regard myself; if when 
my labours here are done, I shall be able to retire 
from the duties and responsibilities of this station, 
with something of the respect and honour, which we 
all feel are justly his due. 

Permit me now to call your attention to the more 
immediate object of this address, viz : to give you, 
first, a brief sketch of the origin and design of this in- 
stitution ; and secondly, an exposition of the mode in 
which the instruction and government of the College 
will be conducted, by my colleagues and myself. 

Our college is the offspring of piety, pure evangelical 
piety. Its founders were men of piety and friends of 
learning. They regarded the proper cultivation of 
learning as favourable to the advancement of religion. 
Hence they sought to rear an institution, in which 
should be taught at one and the same time the les- 
sons of revealed truth ; and the elements of human 
knowledge. They were Presbyterians too : all of 
them, still they were liberal minded men. They 
knew that as guardians of a College they owed cer- 



13 

tain duties to the State as well as to the Church ; 
and also duties to their fellow christians of other de- 
nominations as well as to those of their own. Hence 
while they aimed to make the best possible arrange- 
ments, to secure, for the youth of their own church, an 
education that would fit them for the several stations, 
which they might be called to fill in that church ; they 
sought so to order the course of instruction as to be 
of essential service to the youth of other denomina- 
tions, without interfering with the rights of conscience. 
Their aim was not to make Presbyterians of others, 
nor to interfere with their church relations ; but to 
teach all, that they placed true piety, or the fear and 
love of God, above all church forms : and that Pres- 
byterianism, as held by them at least, was no narrow- 
minded and bigoted attachment to sect but an en- 
larged and liberal scheme of doctrine and order ; 
which, while it claimed to be in accordance with the 
divine mind and will, led them to salute as brethren 
in Christ all who held the essential doctrines of 
grace ; however much they might difier from them- 
selves in outward form, and in minor points of doc- 
trine. This course they pursued, not from constraint, 
nor under the influence of unworthy motives, but 
from conviction and choice. They had indeed the 
wisdom to perceive, that not only was it their duty 
to act thus ; but that they consulted best the in- 
terests of their own branch of the Church of ^Christ, 
by conciliating the respect and the esteem of all the 



14 

other branches of the one Church of our Lord and 
Saviour. At this they aimed, and to a good degree 
they were successful : for among the most devoted 
friends of the College, there have been not a few 
who were members of churches other than Presbyte- 
rian. But let it be remembered, that this liberal 
and christian policy was attended with no sacrifice 
of truth or principle : it made no concessions to reli- 
gious bigotry on the one hand ; or to indifference and 
rationalism on the other. In connexion with it the 
doctrines of grace were plainly and faithfully taught : 
and the simple forms of our church order were strict- 
ly adhered to, in all the religious services of the Col- 
lege : and while none were seduced from flieir at- 
tachment to the forms in which they had been edu- 
cated at home ; all were led to see, that the doctrines 
and discipline of our church were not only consistent 
with vital piety ; but eminently favourable to its 
^owth. What more than this can Presbyterian 
youth need to make them honour and prefer the 
church of their fathers; the church in which from 
infancy they had been nurtured: and the church 
with which their earliest and best feelings were as- 
sociated. 

On the other hand, could such a training as this 
fail to make a favourable impression upon the minds 
of the youth from other churches, in regard to the 
truly catholic spirit of Presbyterianism rightly un- 
derstood and properly exhibited ? From actual ex- 



15 

perience they would know, that they were subjected 
to no annoyance on account of their religious be- 
lief : and to no temptation to forsake the churches 
in which they had been brought up : and thus a 
spirit of mutual confidence would be fostered in the 
minds of all, to the great benefit of the whole body 
of Christ. 

But while the advancement of religion was the 
chief aim of the venerable founders of our College ; 
they sought to effect their object in connexion with 
the intellectual training of the youth, who from time 
to time should resort to this seat of learning. And 
although the great incentive to action, on the part 
of those who founded it, was to furnish the Church 
with a ministry thoroughly trained for their high 
and holy calling : yet they never lost sight of the 
fact, that the highest interests of both church and 
civil society demanded of them, that they should ex- 
ert themselves to provide for all classes, within the 
sphere of their influence, a course of instruction, at 
once liberal, enlightened, and religious. In doing 
this they wisely judged, that those who were to be 
the guides of society, whether in secular or religious 
affairs, all needed the same preparatory training, to 
enter with advantage upon the study of their several 
professions. The proper developement and strength- 
ening of the intellectual and moral powers : the right 
cultivation of the social and religious feelings ; and 
the storing of the mind with the elements of varied 



16 

and useful learning, being alike important for all 
classes of professional men. Piety alone, however 
pure and ardent, could not fit a man for the minis- 
try ; nor could the highest intellectual culture qualify 
one to be a statesman, should he be wanting in mo- 
ral principle. But where piety and intelligence are 
combined in a high degree, we have just those qual- 
ities, that are requisite for professional eminence in 
the several walks in life : and those institutions of 
learning, in which these things are properly cared 
for, are the very ones which best meet the wants 
of the whole community. To rear such an institu- 
tion was the constant aim of the early friends of our 
College : and to show that I have full authority for 
the view here presented, permit me to call your at- 
tention to certain declarations made by those, who 
in faith and prayer laid its foundation. I do this, 
that all present may see their aim, and that all may 
honour them for their enlarged, liberal and truly 
christian views. The present charter of the college 
was granted on the 14th of September, 1748, and at 
the first meeting of the Trustees, held October 13th, 
of the same year, they voted an address to Governor 
Belcher, to whose friendly ofiices they were indebted 
for the charter : and in this address they say, " Your 
long known and well approved friendship for religion 
and learning left us no room to doubt your doing all 
that lay in your power to promote so valuable a 
cajivse in these parts : and upon this head our most 



17 

raised expectations have been abundantly answered. 
We do therefore cheerfully embrace this opportunity 
of paying our most sincere and grateful acknowl- 
edgements to your Excellency, for granting so am- 
ple and well contrived a charter, for erecting a 
seminary of learning in this province, which has 
been so much wanted and so long desired. And 
as it has pleased your Excellency to intrust us with 
so important a charge, it shall be our study and care 
to approve ourselves worthy of the great confidence 
you have placed in us, by doing our utmost to pro- 
mote so noble a design. And since we have your 
Excellency to direct and assist us in this important 
and difficult undertaking ; we shall engage in it with 
the more freedom and cheerfulness : not doubting, 
but by the smiles of heaven under your protection, 
it may prove a flourishing seminary o^ jpiety and good 
literature, and continue not only a perpetual monu- 
ment of honour to your name, above the victories and 
triumphs of renowned conquerors, but a lasting foun- 
dation for the future prosperity of church and state.'' 

In this address, penned by President Burr, we have 
explicitly avowed the aim of the first Trustees of our 
College : viz., the welfare of the whole community, 
civil and religious, by means of an institution devot- 
ed to the interests of piety and learning. 

Let us hear the response of the pious and excellent 

Governor. " Gentlemen, I have this day received, 

by one of your number, the Rev. Mr. Cowell, your 

3 



18 

kind and handsome address : for which I heartily 
return you thanks ; and shall esteem my being placed 
at the head of this government a still greater favour 
from God and the king, if it may at any time fall in 
my power, as it is my inclination, to promote the 
kingdom of the great Redeemer, by taking the Col- 
lege of New Jersey under my countenance and pro- 
tection, as a seminary of true religion and good litera- 
turer 

In his reply to another address from the Trustees, 
in which reply he declined the honour of having the 
first and still the largest building called by his name, 
he says, ..." it seemed to me that a seminary for 
religion and learning should be promoted in this pro- 
vince : for the better enlightening the minds, and 
polishing the manners of this and the neighbouring 
colonies. . . . This important affair, I have been during 
my administration, honestly and heartily prosecu- 
ting, in all such laudable ways and measures as I 
have judged most likely to effect what we all aim 
at : which I hope and believe is the advancing the 
kingdom and the interests of the blessed Jesus and 
the general good of mankind." 

These extracts furnish abundant proof that Gov- 
ernor Belcher, who was not only the first and most 
efficient patron of the College, but also the President 
of the Board of Trustees, entered heartily into their 
views : and that the advancement of religion and 
learning was the aim of all concerned in founding 



I 



19 

this institution. That, in seeking to advance the in- 
terests of their own branch of the Church, by the 
erection of a seminary of learning, they were not un^ 
mindful of the interests of other denominations, ap- 
pears from the words of the Charter ; wherein it is 
assigned as one of the reasons for granting that in- 
strument : " that the petitioners have also expressed 
their earnest desire, that those of every religious de- 
nomination may have free and equal liberty and ad- 
vantage of education in said college, any different 
sentiments of religion notwithstanding." 

And this declaration was a declaration not of the 
trustees merely, but of all who petitioned for the 
charter, and no doubt expressed the sentiments of 
the synod of New York, which comprised the Pres- 
byterian churches not only in New York, but also 
most of those in New Jersey, and some in other states. 
Of the twenty-two trustees named in the charter, 
twelve were ministers of the gospel : and of these, 
eleven were prominent members of the synod of New 
York, and the twelfth was a member of the synod of 
Philadelphia. No one therefore can be surprised at 
hearing, that the first named synod regarded this in- 
stitution with peculiar favour : it being in fact the con- 
tinuation of the one over which the pious and learn- 
ed Jonathan Dickinson presided, and which was no 
doubt established under the auspices of that synod. 
That the members of the synod heartily approved 
of the views and aims of the Trustees of the College, 



20 

inhere is the most ample evidence. At the request 
of the Trustees, they appointed, by a unanimous vote, 
two of the most distinguished members of their body, 
to take a voyage to Europe to solicit funds for the 
College : and also made provision for supplying the 
pulpits of these ministers during their absence. By 
hands of these reverend gentlemen, Messrs. Gilbert 
Tennent and Samuel Davies, the synod sent an ad- 
dress to the General Assemblv of the Church of Scot- 
land, containing an earnest appeal in behalf of the 
college. After reciting their utter inability to meet 
the demands for ministers, to supply the Presbyterian 
churches in connexion with the synod, in the states 
of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, 
Virginia and Carolina, they say, " Now it is from 
the College of New Jersey only, that we can expect 
a remedy for these inconveniences, it is to that (col- 
lege) your petitioners look fox the increase of their 
numbers ; it is on that the Presbyterian churches 
through the six colonies above mentioned principally 
depend for accomplished ministers ; from that has 
been obtained considerable relief already : notwith- 
standing the many disadvantages that unavoidably 
attend its present infant state." In the conclusion 
of their address they add. " Now as the College ap- 
pears to be the most promising expedient to redress 
these grievances, and to promote learning and reli- 
gion in these provinces, your petitioners do most 
heartily concur with the trustees, and humbly pray 



21 

that an act may be passed by this venerable and 
honourable Assembly for a national collection in favour 
of said college.'^ Funds more than sufficient to de- 
fray the expense of erecting our largest college build- 
ing was the result of this action of the synod. 

Their letter to the General Assembly of the church 
of Scotland discloses fully, why the members of the 
synod laboured so assiduously, to establish and to sus- 
tain with vigour the College of New Jersey. They 
regarded it as the most effective means of supplying 
their churches with an able ministry. 

The authorities above cited are amply sufficient to 
establish the several positions I assumed in regard 
to the views and aims of those who founded our 
College ; including the synod of New York, the 
petitioners for the charter, the trustees named 
in the charter, and the Governor, who granted it, in 
the name of the king. Prompted by a strong desire 
to further the interests of religion, and more espe- 
cially to furnish their own branch of the Church 
with an able and learned ministry ; they sought to 
lay the foundation of an institution of learning, which 
should be commensurate with the wants of the whole 
community : and so to conduct its affairs, as to pro- 
mote at one and the same time the welfare of the 
Church and of the State. 

Having obtained a charter, to use their own ex- 
pression, " so ample and well contrived," the trustees 
were not only content, but perfectly satisfied with 



22 

its provisions. It gave them all they wanted. They 
were left untrammelled by the State ; and yet under 
its protection. They enjoyed the confidence and 
the patronage of the Church, and yet were perfectly 
free to adopt such measures as they deemed best 
adapted to secure the success of the institution, and 
through it to advance the civil and religious inter- 
ests of the country : and being wise, active, and pi- 
ous men, their labours were not in vain. Of the cor- 
rectness of this statement, the history of the College 
furnishes full evidence. Did time permit, it would 
give me pleasure to recite this testimony at large ; but 
on this occasion I must content myself with a very 
brief mention of the more important facts bearing 
upon this point. 

1 . A large number of the most useful and distin- 
guished ministers of the gospel in our own and in 
other churches have been educated here. The whole 
number of clerical graduates is more than 600. 

2. Erom this institution have gone forth numerous ar- 
dent friends of sound and thorough learning. Un- 
der God, several of the most valuable seminaries of 
learning in our land owe their existence, in a great 
measure, to the enlightened views, and active efforts 
of men educated here ; and who sought to establish, 
in different sections of the country, institutions upon 
the model of their Alma Mater. 

3. Here too have been trained in great numbers, 
men who have adorned the bar, the bench, the forum, 



23 

the Senate chamber, and the Executive chair, in sev- 
eral of the states of the Union : and others who have 
done honour to the highest seats pertaining to the 
national government. The number of graduates who- 
have held important official stations is not less than 
200. 

4. In the department of medical science, some of 
the brightest names in our country, are names of 
graduates of Nassau Hall. 

5. The Presbyterian church in this country, through 
her synods and through the General Assembly, has 
repeatedly expressed her confidence in the College ; 
and these church courts have at different times re- 
commended collections to be made in its behalf. Thi& 
peculiar interest in our college continued, until hap- 
pily other colleges arose to aid in the very work, for 
which ours was established : and which have divided, 
with us the constantly increasing patronage of the 
whole Presbyterian body, to their greater usefulness^ 
and without any serious detriment to us. 

6. From other christian churches too we have had 
a liberal patronage ; and the warm and sincere friend- 
ship towards this institution, on the part of our 
friends in sister churches, shows, that the confidence 
reposed in us, has not been abused ; and that a collat- 
eral object in founding our College has also been at- 
tained. 

7. The State too has manifested its confidence in 
the management of our affairs, not only by not at- 



24 

tempting to interfere with us, in any respect ; but 
by passing special laws for our protection ; and by 
a public declaration in regard to the usefulness of the 
College, in promoting both piety and learning. 

In making this remark, I have reference to the 
language employed in a preamble to an act passed 
on the 13th of March, 1780, by the Legislature of 
New Jersey, for amending and establishing the char- 
ter of our College. 

. . . . " And whereas all wise Legislators have 
deemed the education of youth to be of the utmost 
importance to the prosperity of the State ; and have 
taken institutions of learning under their patronage 
and protection : and whereas the said College of New 
jersey hath been found greatly useful in diffusing 
as well the principles of political liberty as of religion 
and literature : and many have thereby been fitted 
to fill distinguished places both in the civil and ec- 
clesiastical departments of this and of the other 
United States, with advantage to the community, 
and honour and reputation to themselves, therefore 
for granting the passage of the petition of the said 
Trustees, be it enacted, &c." 

8. The pure doctrines of the gospel, and the true 
principles of civil and religious liberty have always 
formed a part of the instruction given here. 

9. The last and most important fact of all. At dif- 
ferent times, God has most graciously manifested his 
favour, by awakenmg the minds of the youth here as- 



26 

eembled to a serious conviction of the unspeakable im- 
portance of divine things ; and by giving large num- 
bers of them grace to become true and devoted ser- 
vants of our Lord Jesus Christ. The very first year 
that the college was established in this place, under 
President Burr, there was a signal ro-anifestation of 
the divine favour in the respect just mentioned. An- 
other instance occurred in 1762, during the presi- 
dency of Dr. Finley, and another equally remarka- 
ble in 1815, while Dr. Green was President, and an- 
other quite recentl}^ in 1848. Besides those just 
named, there have been others of less note. These 
should ever be kept in grateful remembrance by the 
friends of the College, and be an encouragement to 
pray earnestly and perseveringly for a renewal of 
like scenes. In the year 1757, the Kev. Samuel 
Davies writing to a friend in England says, " The 
best news that perhaps I ever heard in my life, I 
received from my favourite friend Mr. Samuel Finley, 
minister of Nottingham, in Pennsylvania, tutor of a 
large academy, and one of the Trustees of the Col- 
lege of New Jersey. 1 had sent him some extracts 
from my British letters, giving an account of the 
revival of religion in sundry parts of England, par- 
ticularly among the clergy." In answer he writes, 
" I greatly rejoice that our Lord Jesus has put it in 
my power to make you a large compensation for the 
good news^you sent me. God has done great things 

for us. Our glorious Redeemer poured out his Holy 

4 



26 

Spirit upon the students of our college ; not one of 
all present neglected, and they were in number six- 
ty." At the close of his letter Mr. Davies remarks, 
" Though this college was well founded and well 
conducted, yet I must own, I was often afraid it was 
degenerating into a college of mere learning. But 
now my fears are removed, by the prospect that sin- 
cere piety, that grand ministerial qualification, will 
make equal advance." Mr. Davies, became Presi- 
dent of the College in 1759, about two years after 
this letter; and Mr. Finley in 1761. May their 
successors in this office ever resemble them, in being 
ardent friends of genuine revivals of religion. And 
beyond all question, the frequent outpouring of the 
Holy Spirit upon the youth of our College will be 
the best guarantee, that it will never become a Col- 
lege of mere learning. But let it be remembered, 
that the promotion of learning, thorough, sound and 
varied, is one of the great objects sought to be attain- 
ed by the erection of this institution ; and by learn- 
ing, I do not mean merely literature, but all such 
useful knowledge as has been found of service in the 
culture of the youthful intellect. It would be an 
easy task to show that the two objects chiefly aimed 
at by the founders of our College are perfectly con- 
sistent : and that they should always be sought for 
in connexion, whether we have respect chiefly to our 
religious or to our intellectual improvement. The 
more thorough and extensive knowledge we acquire 



27 

of the lessons taught us in the word and works of 
God, the greater advances we shall be capable of 
making in piety : and to the full attainment of such 
knowledge, the proper discipline of the intellectual 
faculties is absolutely essential. On the other hand, 
nothing can be more favourable to the vigorous ap- 
plication of the mind to our intellectual pursuits, 
than to have our minds at peace with God, and 
prompted and controlled, in all their acts, by supreme 
love to Him. The celebrated Francke says of him- 
self, that while a youth he observed, that whenever 
he became remiss in his devotions, he was in a 
measure unfitted for close and earnest study. That 
it is the duty of those, to whom, in the providence 
of God, the management of this invstitution is now 
confided, to keep in view the design of its founders, 
and to further that design to the extent of their 
ability, I shall assume as evident upon the bare 
stating of the proposition. No right minded man 
can question its truth. I shall therefore proceed to 
unfold, as at first proposed, the mode in which my 
colleagues and myself intend to conduct the govern- 
ment and the instruction of the College, with the 
view to attain the end which it will be our pleasure, 
as it is our duty, to seek. 

We shall not aim at innovations. We have no 
fault to find with those who have preceded us. 
They are deserving of all honour for what they 
accomplished : but with the increased facilities which 



28 

ill the kind providence of God are placed within 
our reach, we shall seek to extend and other- 
wise to improve the course of study and the sys- 
tem of instruction, which they have marked out : 
with such changes only as time and experience sug- 
gest to be expedient. I shall therefore call your at- 
tention j&rst to the plan hitherto pursued, as it will 
thus be the more readily seen, that our aim is sim- 
ply to give, if possible, greater efficiency to this plan, 
and not introduce changes for the sake of change. 
I am glad to have it in my power to say, that no 
chimerical experiments in education have ever had 
the least countenance here. The methods which 
have been employed to secure the proper cultivation 
of both head and heart are the methods, which long 
experience has taught to be the most efficient. So 
far as it concerns the head, mental discipline has 
been aimed at rather than the storing of the memory 
with isolated truths ; the greater the number of 
which, the greater often is the confusion ; yet the 
proper exercise of memory has never been neglected. 
Nor has any countenance ever been given to the 
whim, that the regular and systematic teaching of 
religious truth is unfavourable to the growth of pious 
feeling, in the youthful breast, and that all attend- 
ance upon religious services should be entirely vol- 
untary, and never required ; and I trust such no- 
tions as these will never find a lodgment here. 
Had we no experience to confirm us in our views, 



29 

the precepts of revealed truth on this point would 
be sufficient to show, that the true mode of train- 
ing youth to fear God and to keep his command- 
ments, is to do as God himself required his covenant 
people to do. " And these words which I command 
thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt 
teach them diligently unto thy children, and thou 
shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, 
and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou 
liest down, and when thou rises t up." Surely He 
who formed the soul of man, must know what is 
the best method of fostering in that soul the spirit of 
piety. 

Nor has it ever been the aim of the Trustees and 
Faculty of this College to make the College a collec- 
tion of separate schools ; and to permit the students 
here congregated to determine for themselves to what 
branches they 'will devote their time and attention, 
and which ones they will neglect. 

Whatever advantages may flow from such a sys- 
tem, they are not the precise results sought to be 
reached by the establishment of colleges. That 
even for certain classes of under-graduates, they 
may answer a good purpose we do not question, 
but it is chiefly for that class, whose pecuniary re- 
sources, and advanced age will not admit of their pur- 
suing the full college course : one designed to em- 
brace an outline of all the liberal arts and sciences ; 
and to impart that variety of mental discipline, and 



30 

those expanded views of the fields of literature and 
science, which can be derived in no other way, than 
by the actual application of the mind, to the dif- 
ferent branches of study included in what is gen- 
erally known as a plan of liberal education. We 
do not hold to the maxim ascribed to Chrysippus, 
at least without some qualification, " that the 
wise man is the best artist in every kind of work," 
but we do hold with the Roman Orator, " that 
there is a common bond between all the liberal 
arts," and in accordance with this view, we maintain 
that the careful study and thorough mastery of the 
various branches of knowledge, so fa,r at least as to 
give us precise ideas of their nature and their extent, 
aflford the best foundation upon which we can erect 
a superstructure of professional eminence. This range 
of study calls into exercise all the powers of the 
mind, in the order and to the extent, that experi- 
ence has shown to be highly favourable to the unfold- 
ing of those powers, and to giving them that vigour, 
and that unity of action, which it should be the aim 
of all education to impart. 

In adopting a system of instruction for colleges, 
we should have respect to the mass of those whom 
we seek to benefit, and we should so order the course 
of study as to enable them all, with proper effort, to 
attain in some good degree the end sought in a liberal 
education. This end I apprehend to be full prepa- 
ration, to enter with advantage upon the study of 



31 

one of the liberal professions, or upon an extended 
and thorough inquiry into the more recondite por- 
tions of those branches of knowledge, the elements 
of which had supplied a part of their preparatory 
training. Not, that persons who may be designed 
for other vocations than those just mentioned, may 
not with profit submit to the same mental discipline, 
but that the plan itself should be arranged with spe- 
cial reference to the wants of those who are to be 
devoted to the cultivation of the arts and sciences; 
or to the study and practice of the learned professions. 
It has been asserted by a distinguished writer on edu- 
cation,* and in a limited sense his remark may be true, 
that in a school or college for the pursuit of liberal or 
general knowledge, the student may be considered 
as an end unto himself; his perfection as a man 
simply being the aim of his education. This I say 
in a limited sense may be true. For with habits of 
study which render mental effort his delight, and 
with a taste acquired for the perception of the beau- 
tiful and the true in nature and in art; and of the 
useful too in the different departments of knowledge, 
the liberally educated youth has attained a degree 
of perfection, which places him greatly above his 
equals in age, who have made no such attainments. 
And he is in possession of sources of pure pleasure, 
from which he may draw as often and as largely as he 
pleases, provided he does not relax his effort to increase 

* Sir William Hamilton. 



32 

his knowledge and to improve his mind. Though all 
this be conceded to those who maintain that the 
benefits of a liberal or general education terminate 
upon the individual himself^ and have their end in 
making him a wiser, better, and happier man, yet 
we know of no institutions professedly established 
with this as their ultimate design ; but on the con- 
trary, they all have, as in our judgment they should 
have, a more comprehensive object, and one bearing 
more directly and fully upon the welfare of the 
whole commonwealth ; and that is, as we have 
already said in other words, the liberal education of 
youth, with a view to the advancement of learning 
in all the various departments of liberal knowledge 
and professional life. That such a training as this, 
considered as a means to an end, or as a preparation 
for a higher education, is superior to the plan of 
having a variety of independent schools, in which 
the attention is wholly confined to matters bearing 
upon a single department of knowledge, may I think 
be safely maintained. And although our limits will 
not permit me to argue this question at large, and 
my object being to point out what we propose to do 
rather than the reasons for so doing ; yet I ought 
perhaps to say a few words in support of the opinion 
just avowed. Not to insist upon the fact that this 
method, whether the best or not, has been eminent- 
ly successful, and that as a general truth it is unde- 
niable, that those men who have been most eminent 



' 



33 

in the several liberal professions, or most distinguish- 
ed as scholars or philosophers have had a liberal 
preparatory training, prior to their devoting them- 
selves to those branches, from the study of which 
they have derived their reputation. I may mention 
as one reason in favour of this course, that where the 
different studies are judiciously arranged and proper- 
ly proportioned, they serve to call into harmonious 
action all the intellectual powers, and thus give a 
more healthful expansion to the mind than it can 
derive from any other source. 

A second reason in favour of this course is, that it 
serves to enlarge the views of the liberally educated, 
as to the unbounded field for research that lies 
before them, in the worlds of matter and of mind ; 
and thus restrains them from despising the attain- 
ments of others, from the full conviction that their 
own must necessarily be limitegl in extent. Thus 
modesty is engendered, and also a sympathy with 
others in their efforts to enlarge the boundaries of 
knowledge and learning. Thus too the efforts of all in 
behalf of learning are encouraged, by the more gene- 
ral appreciation in which their labours are held by 
the intelligent portion of society, whatever be the 
subjects in regard to which that intelligence is em- 
ployed. 

And if it be maintained, that the advantages here 

enumerated would result from freedom of intercourse 

and friendly correspondence, between those who have 

5 



34 

been trained in separate and independent schools ; 
the ready answer is, that it cannot be so well or so 
readily done in this way as in the one we advocate. 
For those in these separate and independent schools 
having really no knowledge of, or taste for, other 
pursuits than those in which they themselves are 
engaged, cannot estimate so justly as they should 
the value of other studies. They may admit the 
superiority of individual men in other walks of 
life, and the value of their labours to society, yet 
they cannot appreciate them as they would, did they 
know something personally of the intense mental 
effort requisite to the production of those results, 
which claim and receive their admiration. 

A third advantage, which a system of liberal or 
general instruction in a college has over the volun- 
tary method pertaining to a collection of independent 
schools, consists in this, that better provision can 
be made for occupying the whole time of the student, 
a matter of prime moment in the early discipline of 
the mind. If the course of instruction in each de- 
partment be so arranged as to occupy to advantage 
the whole time of the pupil, then it is evident, that 
for the great body of students it would be highly 
injurious to their scholarship and mental discipline, 
should thev divide their time between the different 
schools, the studies in each requiring the time and 
effort which are distributed among several. Again, 
if the instruction given in the several schools should 



35 

not furnish ample employment for the pupil, and if 
it be so ordered as to enable him to attend with pro- 
fit upon two, three or more schools at the same time, 
and it be still left at the option of the student to 
pursue one or more branches as he pleases, it is evi- 
dent that it will furnish, to a large proportion of 
the youth, a strong temptation to neglect any and 
every branch of learning that calls for vigorous men- 
tal effort, and to content themselves with solving 
in their individual cases, the problem, in what way 
they can finish their college course with the least 
amount of labour, and therefore with the least amount 
of knowledge. A temptation strong enough where the 
attendance upon the whole course of instruction is 
required of each individual. It is admitted, indeed, 
that this would not operate unfavourably upon youth 
possessed of uncommon quickness of parts and of an 
ardent thirst for knowledge ; who sometimes are 
disposed to ap|)ly themselves too closely to their 
studies. But this is not characteristic of youth in 
general, and it is necessary, by a system of regular 
daily instruction and examination, to accustom them 
to mental effort, until by constant practice the habit 
be formed, and mental effort itself becomes pleasant ; 
and this can more readily be done upon a plan 
which prescribes a common course for all, and ex- 
acts a regular attendance upon that course, than it 
can by leaving it to the option of the student to 
study what he pleases. 



36 

It may be urged that youth will study with great- 
er diligence things in which they take an interest, 
than those for which they have no taste; and 
though this is doubtless true, yet it may be the case, 
and often is, that the course of reading or study in 
which they take most delight is not the one most 
necessary for their improvement, and the complete 
developement of their minds. For often the very 
source of this pleasure is, that it can be had with 
little or no exertion ; and when it is otherwise, their 
interest in these particular studies which prompt 
them to constant effort, not unfrequently indisposes 
them for other studies of equal moment in them- 
selves, and of equal importance to the student. And 
it is assuming rather too much for youth, of the age 
of those who enter our institutions for undergradu- 
ates, that they are fully prepared to judge for them- 
selves, not only as to what is the most agreeable 
to them, but also as to what is most useful. 

For these and other reasons, we are disposed to 
adhere to the plan hitherto pursued in this institu- 
tion ; in having one course of study for all the stu- 
dents, who are candidates for academic honours ; and 
. in requiring attendance upon all the college exercises. 
In this one course, we shall not undertake to teach 
everything included under the heads of literature 
and science. But to those matters, which have been 
found from experience to be the most useful, in the 
proper cultivation of the moral and intellectual pow- 



37 

ers, special attention will be given : and in this list 
we include Eeligion^ Natural and Revealed ; Philoso- 
phy, Intellectual and Physical ; Logic and Rhetoric ; 
Mathematics, pure and mixed ; the Greek and Latin 
languages ; and History, Ancient and Modern. In 
this list, as you perceive, we have placed first the 
study of religion, and we have no hesitation in say- 
ing, that we would make every other part of educa- 
tion subordinate to this, and that it will be our first 
aim to imbue the minds of our youth with the prin- 
ciples of piety and virtue. Considered simply as a 
means of intellectual improvement, the study of re- 
ligious truth is of the highest importance. Nothing 
can contribute more to the expansion of the mind : 
and to the perfect culture of all its powers. The 
grandest thought that has ever entered the mind of 
man is the idea of God, one, eternal, unchangeable, 
infinite in being and perfection, the Almighty. It 
is the highest of all possible generalizations, im- 
measurably transcending in grandeur the idea of 
the material universe, vast as is that. This alone 
would be a sufiicient reason for assigning to the study 
of religious truth, the prominence here given to it. 
But the claims of this, and of all the other branches 
of knowledge above named, to be regarded of prime 
importance in every system of education, I need not 
stop to argue. If experience can establish anything in 
the matter of education, it has shown fully the 
value of these studies in the discipline of the mind, 



38 

and we will leave it to others to determine their re- 
lative value : and to try the experiment of conduct- 
ing the education of the young, with the entire neg- 
lect of any one of them. To sundry other branches 
sufficient attention will be given, to impart a definite 
idea of the matters of w^hich they treat, and of the pro- 
per method of investigating them. Under this head I 
might mention Ethnology, Political Economy, Geol- 
ogy, Physical Geography, Zoology, Botany, Miner- 
alogy, Architecture, Sculpture, &c. In giving in- 
struction in the various departments named, we shall 
endeavour to bear in mind, that art should precede 
science : and that by constant practice and frequent 
repetition, the youthful mind should first be trained 
to expertness in performing the required tasks : and 
afterwards be taught the reasons for the operations 
themselves. To reverse this order would be to do 
an irreparable injury, to those upon whom this exper- 
iment should be tried. The first part of this mental 
training ought to be the chief object of attention in the 
preparatory schools ; the second part is the one which 
more appropriately pertains to the College. In the 
school, a youth engaged in the study of language 
should acquire a thorough and exact knowledge of 
the import of words, and of the rules of grammar : 
and he should accustom himself to apply these rules 
carefully in translating from one language into an- 
other, and in learning to compose in his own and in 
other tongues. At College, while this practice should" 



39 

be continued, the student should enter upon the 
higher study of the philosophy of language ; and upon 
a critical examination of the style and sentiments of 
the various classical authors, whose works are subjects 
of study : and he should also carefully observe the 
illustrations they afford of each other's thoughts and 
forms of expression. In History, an accurate know- 
ledge of facts should be the first aim of the student, 
and after that, the study of the general principles, as 
far as History has assumed a philosophical form. 
So also in Mathematics, the solution of problems ac- 
cording to prescribed rules or formulas should first 
claim attention ; and then with far greater ease will 
the youthful student be made to understand the ra- 
tionale of the formulas themselves. 

With respect to Natural Philosophy and other sci- 
entific subjects. After the student has learned the 
general principles ; and the use to be made of them 
in the deduction of particular facts ; he should be 
taught the proper method of philosophical investiga- 
tion, and the steps by which the higher generaliza- 
tions have been reached. 

A distinguished and learned friend, to whom I am 
indebted for some of the above hints, remarks : '' As 
one great object in life is the acquisition of truth 
and its relations ; the logical powers ought to be fully 
developed : and this is effected by exercising the stu- 
dent in deducing particular facts from general laws. 
In all cases, as far as possible, he should be shown 



40 

how the deductions from these laws agree with the 
actual facts of nature. This will give him full con- 
fidence in the truth and importance of generaliza- 
tions, and serve to render him a safe man, one who, 
after having deliberately investigated a subject, will 
settle down on some general principles, and will not 
be liable to be moved by every new wind of doctrine." 
" Of whatever is attempted to be taught clear ideas 
should be given, and those branches of knowledge 
should especially be cultivated in the last years of a 
college course, which have been reduced to the most 
definite rules." Of the truth of these remarks, no 
experienced teacher, I think, can have any doubt. 

Lectures accompanied with experiments, or other 
illustrations, where the subject calls for them ; text 
books, with comments by the teacher, and frequent 
examinations, both oral and written, will continue to 
be parts of our system of instruction. These difierent 
methods have their several advantages, and by com- 
bining them, we hope to accomplish everything de- 
sirable as to the imparting of knowledge. To secure 
strict attention and greater diligence, upon the part 
of the student, we shall continue the plan of subdi- 
viding the difierent classes ; that as far as possible 
each student may be called upon every day to under- 
go an examination, upon the subject of study for the 
day. 

And although this method adds materially to the 
burden of the Professors, they will submit to it in 



41 

view of its great importance to the student. In no 
other way can regular daily preparation on the part 
of the student to recite the prescribed lesson be had. 
Class honours and rewards of various kinds may be 
given as a stimulus to diligent and faithful attention 
to study ; and to a certain extent they answer a 
most valuable purpose ; still they will not be suffi- 
cient, except in rare cases, to effect fully the end 
aimed at in bestowing them, if there be not also fre- 
quent examination of the individual members of the 
class. For daily mental effort of the highest order 
they need the stimulus furnished by daily examin- 
ation. Nothing can supply the want of it. And to 
have it, the number of teachers must correspond to 
the number of students. It is simply absurd to im- 
agine that a single professor can instruct well any 
number of pupils, however large that number may 
be. And one of the reasons why, in seeking a par- 
tial endowment for our college, we prefer to have 
the greater portion of that endowment in form of 
scholarships rather than of professorships, is that we 
can the more readily retain the present charges for 
tuition, and thus enable the college to maintain a 
corps of professors and tutors in just proportion to 
the students. If the students increase in number, so 
will their teachers; and we shall keep up in full 
vigour our plan of frequent examinations. If the 
instruction be confined to the delivery of lectures, it 

matters not indeed how manv may be present, pro- 

6 



42 

vided the lecturer has the power to interest them in 
the subject, and to awaken a feeling kindred to his 
own in regard to the importance of his discussions. 
But in order that the best lectures may be of real 
service in the education of the young, it is important 
that there should be previously had from some 
source clear and distinct ideas of the matters 
handled; and it is essential that the student should 
have been taught the habit of giving close and fixed 
attention to what is said, and of discriminating be- 
tween the thought itself, and the form in which the 
thought is presented ; so as the more readily to 
seize upon the prominent points, and their relations 
to each other. In what way can all this be done so 
effectually as by daily examination upon text-books 
carefully explained by the teacher, and diligently 
studied by the student ; and yet this cannot be done, 
unless the provision for imparting instruction be in 
full proportion to the numbers taught. Of all the 
methods of giving instruction, this for the great 
body of the students is beyond question the most 
important ; and although without it a small number 
of ripe scholars may be formed, it will be at the sac- 
rifice of the highest interests of their companions in 
study. The value of daily examinations upon both 
text-books and lectures cannot well be over esti- 
mated ; yet their value as an incentive to diligent 
study will be greatly increased, if they be viewed as 
preparatory to the more extended and formal exam- 



I 



43 

inations, which are to be the chief element in deter° 
mining the relative position of the students in their 
several classes, and the rewards to be awarded to 
the superior scholars. 

'' No academical exercise," says Melancthon, as 
cited by Sir William Hamilton, " can be more useful 
than that of examination. It whets the desire of 
learning, it enhances the solicitude of study, while 
it animates the attention to whatever is taught. 
Every student is alarmed, lest aught should escape 
him which it behooves him to observe. This anxiety 
incites him also to canvass everything with accuracy, 
knowing that he must fully and perspicuously ex- 
plain his understanding of each several doctrine. 
Examination, likewise, fosters facility of expression, 
counteracts perturbation and confusion, inures to 
coolness and promptitude of thought. Not less use- 
ful is examination in restraining the course of juve- 
nile study within legitimate boundaries. Nothing 
is more hurtful, as nothing is more common, than 
vain and tumultuary reading, which inflates with 
the persuasion, without conferring the reality, of eru- 
dition. Wherefore, if examination brought no other 
advantage than that it counteracts the two greatest 
pests of education found indeed usually combined, 
sloth, to wit, and arrogance ; for this reason alone 
should examination be cherished in our universities. 
Against sloth there is no goad sharper or more effi- 
cacious than examination : and «.s to arrogance, e«- 



44 

amination is the very school of humility and im- 
provement. By no other discipline is a soaring con- 
ceit so effectually taken down : and this is the rea- 
son, why self satisfied pretenders ever fly examina- 
tion : while others who think leSvS of the little they 
know, than of the much that they know not, resort 
to it as the most efficacious means of improvement." 
These remarks of a famous scholar and divine, are 
all true, and of great weight : and they set in a clear 
and strong light the importance of frequent exami- 
nation, in the education of youth. But still they 
speak only of its direct effects upon the student him- 
self. To the no less important influence exerted by 
it, in awakening the energies of the teacher, and thus 
by a reflex action upon the mind of the scholar giv- 
ing to that mind increased activity, they do not refer. 
Yet in estimating the value of examinations as a part 
of a college course of instruction, the effect upon the 
mind of the teacher : and its reflex influence upon 
the pupil ought to be kept distinctly in view. Un- 
less we do, their full value, in educating the youth- 
ful mind to think with vigour, and to express its 
thoughts with ease, can never be appreciated as it 
should. 

In our examinations we shall continue to use both 
methods, the oral and the written, being satisfied 
from an ample trial, that in this way the student 
will derive advantages which he cannot have from 
either alone. 



45 

Declamation and written composition will form as 
hitherto parts of our College exercises. And al- 
though they may be so conducted as to do harm : 
yet rightly attended to they cannot fail to be 
of service to the student. The art of expressing 
thought with propriety and elegance is best acquired 
by committing our thoughts to writing; and the 
practice of declaiming contributes to presence of mind, 
gracefulness of manner, and propriety of utterance. 

We shall also avail ourselves, wherever practica- 
ble, of the help of drawings, models, outline maps, 
and other implements of instruction, for the sake of 
the impression made by them on the eye ; and for 
the sake of the suggestions of an abstruse character 
of which, from an association of ideas, they are often 
the source. 

As it regards the improvement of our course of 
study we hope for much, in the liberality of our 
friends who are so generously contributing to the 
endowment of scholarships : the income of which 
for the most part is to be given to those students, 
who at the time of entering college shall upon exam- 
ination, be found to be the best prepared. The 
advantages arising from this source, will not be lim- 
ited to the College ; but will be shared by it and the 
schools, from which we receive our students. With 
respect to the schools, we trust the effect, will be, to 
make the pupils in them more concerned as to the 



46 

degree of their preparation for admission into College, 
than they are as to the time when they will be per- 
mitted to enter : and that they will willingly remain 
at school, until they are fully prepared for the class 
into which they seek admission. If this point can 
be secured, it will be a great relief to the teachers, 
and a great gain to the scholars. The teachers will 
be more free from the annoying solicitations, to which 
they are often exposed, both from the pupils and 
their parents, to pass over in a hurried manner a 
part of the usual preparatory course; and the schol- 
ars will do themselves and their schools greater 
credit, and be the better prepared to profit by the 
instructions they are to receive at College. 

Should the proposed endowment be completed, the 
College will gain several ways. 

1. We shall be able gradually to increase the de- 
mands for admission into College. 

2. We shall secure a more thorough preparation 
on the part of all who enter. 

3. It will be in our power to give them when ad- 
mitted a more complete course of instruction. 

4. They will be able to accomplish more, both in 
the acquisition of knowledge and in the discipline of 
their minds, than would be possible, without this 
better preparatory training. 

5. We hope as another result, that a larger number 
than heretofore will prefer to enter College, so as to 
spend here the whole four years allotted to' our 
course of study. 



47 

Every teacher of experience knows the great ad- 
vantage of having in every class, large or small, one 
or more youth of superior talent and accurate schol- 
arship. It serves to elevate the views and aims of 
the others, and to stimulate them to greater dili- 
gence. If then as one of the fruits of the eiFort now 
making to endow our institution, we can have^ at 
the beginning of each college year, to enter our 
Freshman class, twenty-five youth thoroughly pre- 
pared for that class ; the benefits of such a state of 
things upon the scholarship of the whole institution 
would be incalculably great, and our generous friends 
will have good reason to congratulate themselves 
upon their share in so noble a work. 

For several years past, our College has aided from 
thirty to forty youth of promise ; most of them of 
pious, and not a few of them sons of clergymen, in 
obtaining their education, and with our increase of 
means, we shall confidently expect to increase the 
number of both these classes of students : viz. pious 
but indigent youth designed for the ministry, and 
sons of clergymen in moderate circumstances. And 
we shall be glad to have it in our power to say that no 
meritorious youth, possessing talent and desirous to 
enter our College, whether designed for the ministry 
or not, shall be kept away for want of funds to pay 
his tuition fees. 

If the proposed endowment be secured, the Trus- 
tees ^vill have it in their power to add to the num- 



48 

ber and efficiency of our Faculty ; not only by placing 
upon a permanent footing the new Professorships 
already projected, or rather already established : — one 
to be held, as we hope, by our former Professor of 
Natural Philosophy, the distinguished Secretary of 
the Smithsonian Institution ; another by the learned 
gentleman, who has just been chosen Professor of 
Geology and Physical Geography ; and a third by 
the able divine just called to the chair of Mental and 
Moral Philosophy : but from the probable increase 
in the number of students, and a corresponding in- 
crease of funds, they will be able to establish other 
professorships, which would add greatly to the value 
and efficiency of our course of instruction. 

On the subject of discipline, I must say a few 
words, and jei in regard to it we have nothing new 
to promise. To secure diligence in study, regular 
and prompt attendance upon all college exercises ; 
and proper demeanour on the part of every student, 
is the more immediate aim of our college laws. To 
return the youth to their parents, with their heads^ 
hearts and manners all improved is the ultimate aim. 
The benefits to result from a successful administra- 
tion of these laws, must be obvious to all, and need 
no illustration. 

Nothing degrading to an ingenuous youth, nothing 
but what every such youth should willingly do, has 
ever been demanded by our laws, and nothing of 



49 

this kind will ever be required of any student. But 
it will be expected of every one, that he will make 
the rules of the institution, and not his own opinions, 
or those of his fellow students, his rule of conduct, 
in matters pertaining to the College. And we are 
persuaded that no student can so readily render his 
residence at College a truly pleasant one, as by a 
strict compliance with all its rules. To see that they 
are properly heeded is the duty of the College offi- 
cer, and not unfrequently the most disagreeable part 
of that duty. And here rather than in anything 
else should he have the co-operation of the parents, and 
for this reason our plan has been, and will continue 
to be, to send home regular quarterly reports of the 
standing of each student ; and occasionally special 
ones, if anything seems to require it. 

In conducting the discipline of the College, it will 
be our aim to encourage the doing of what is right ; 
and, by a careful oversight, to prevent violations of 
law and order, rather than to detect and punish for 
wrong-doing : and the motives, which we shall urge, 
will be those which have respect to duty, and not 
merely to expediency and interest. We have never 
given, and it is our purpose not to give any coun- 
tenance to an espial-system : and yet to prevent if 
possible any from going astray, and to understand 
fully the character and conduct of each individual, 
we shall be not inattentive observers of their deport- 
ment and their associations. 



50 

We shall encourage freedom of approach upon the 
part of our pupils, and shall endeavour to make them 
feel that they and their teachers have not antago- 
nistic interests, but that we really seek their good, 
and that they may safely confide in us in all mat- 
ters pertaining to themselves ; and that while we 
require of them strict attention to college orders, 
we are willing to grant them every reasonable in- 
dulgence, and to aid them in any of their difficulties 
to the extent of our ability. And even in cases 
where we are constrained to exercise severe disci- 
pline, we shall seek to do it in the way that will be 
least trying to their own feelings and to those of 
their friends. 

Not being angels ourselves, we shall not expect 
our pupils to be angels, nor shall we expect them to 
have all the discretion of old men of mature minds ; 
and we shall make all proper allowance for the 
greater buoyancy of spirits in youth, and for mere 
indiscretions of conduct. But, on the other hand, 
all determined disregard of order and of propriety 
of deportment, and all resolute opposition to author- 
ity will be dealt with as they deserve ; and it will 
be our aim to merit the praise bestowed upon Presi 
dent Burr, of whom it is said: ^^ Though in judg. 
meat and temper inclined to mild measures, when 
these failed he would resort to a necessary severity ; 
and no connexions could prevent the equal distribu- 



51 

tion of justice. In no college were the students 
more narrowly inspected and prudently guarded, or 
vice of every kind more effectually searched out and 
discountenanced or suppressed." 

As it is not the design of our college to furnish a 
retreat for the indolent, nor a harbour for the vicious, 
we shall rigidly require of all, who may seek admis- 
sion into college, that they produce from their teach- 
ers, or other reputable persons, testimonials of good 
moral character. 

I have now given you our plan for the future gov- 
ernment and instruction of the college ; or perhaps 
to speak with more exactness, an outline of the plan 
hitherto pursued, with some modifications suggested 
by time and experience. We trust that it will meet 
your approval, and that we shall have your counte- 
nance in our efforts to give it increased efficiency. 
Of all interested in the welfare and usefulness of our 
college, we earnestly ask their fervent prayers, that 
the blessing of God may ever accompany the in- 
structions here given, and that our college may ever 
prove what its pious founders desired and prayed it 
should be — an institution for the promotion of sound 
learning and true piety. 



4 ♦♦»•» 



Having finished his address, Dr. Maclean said it 
was truly gratifying to him and would do doubt give 



52 

pleasure to all present ; that his first official act as 
President of the College, was to announce to the au- 
dience that, by a unanimous vote, the Trustees had 
conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws, upon the 
late venerable President of the College, Dr. James 
Carnahan. 

The exercises were then concluded with prayer 
and the benediction, by the Eev. Dr. W. W. Phillips, 
of New York. 



iS?""^ °'' CONGRESS 



028 333 678 5 \» 



